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Heaven’s Door is Open – September 10, 2017

And I, because of their actions and their imaginations, am about to come and gather all nations and tongues, and they will come and see my glory. I will set a sign among them, and I will send some of those who survive to the nations—to Tarshish, to the Libyans and Lydians (famous as archers), to Tubal and Greece, and to the distant islands that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory. They will proclaim my glory among the nations.Isaiah 66:18-19

Heaven’s Door is Open

Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Luke that the door to heaven is narrow (Luke 13:24). Only those who trust in him for forgiveness and life will enter. The people of Old Testament Israel found this out first hand. Though God had given them every opportunity to put their trust in him and in the coming Savior he had promised, so many rejected his promises and were lost for eternity because of it.

Yet there were some, as Isaiah says in the Scripture before us today, “who survived.” These were the Israelites in whom God preserved saving faith; those who believed God’s promises of the coming Christ and who would live with him forever in heaven. And, as Isaiah tells us, God preserved them for a purpose. Those believers would not only be his children forever, they would also be his instruments in bringing the saving message of Christ to all nations—to those who had “not heard of [his] fame or seen [his] glory.” Indeed, the door to heaven is narrow. But, through God’s grace, it is open to all.

As we hear God’s Word today, Isaiah’s words are being fulfilled. We, who are included in the nations that the Lord desires to save, have not been left without the hope of heaven. God has given us the opportunity to hear the saving message of Christ in his Word, and through it he creates and strengthens saving faith in our hearts. He promises to preserve us in that faith until that day when we will live with him forever in heaven.

And just as he did for those in Israel who believed, God preserves us for a purpose. God now uses us as his instruments to proclaim the message of Christ to all nations, including all those in our own lives who do not yet know him and the promises that he offers in Christ.

So who in your life needs to hear this message of Christ? What opportunities does God present you with each day to share Christ with them? Take advantage of those opportunities so that they, too, can share the certain hope of heaven that you already possess. The door to heaven is narrow, but it is open to all!

Prayer:
Lord Jesus Christ, through your work you have saved me from sin and opened wide the door to heaven. Lead me to cherish this truth every day, and give me the desire and the opportunity to share it with others. Amen.